Gabby Parsons

NRBQ's Steve Ferguson RIP

by Gabby Parsons,posted Oct 15 2009 2:03PM

The rock world lost another unsung hero when NRBQ's original guitarist Steve Ferguson died recently.
If you're not familiar with NRBQ, you've been missing out on one of the best bar bands ever! Their live shows are wild, energetic and legendary. In fact, on a Simpson's episode where Homer and the guys stop in at a dive of a bar NRBQ was the band on stage.
Originally from Louisville Kentuck, he and Terry Adadms formed the band, but left in 1971 when Al Anderson replaced him.
When I worked on the radio in Hartford CT, they came around so often they were practically the house band ! NRBQ stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet, but although their live shows were awesome, they didn't sell many records,leading fans to lament that NRBQ stood for No Records Bought in Quantity.
But those who DID, knew they had something special. One of my favorite albums was their second album,recorded while Steve was still with them with rock and roll pioneer Carl Perkins.
Steve's version of Flat Foot Flewzy is not to be missed. In fact, here it is!

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There was just about universal love for this foot-stomper from John Denver.
John Denver had hit after hit in the mid 1970s, and this was one of them, goign all the way to #1 in 1975.
Go ahead, crank it up, sing it loud and proud. And maybe swing...

A silly novelty tune with a jump swing beat took the country by storm--at least parts of it--in early 1984.
A Chicago band called Jump 'N The Saddle scored a #15 with the Curly Shuffle...and it seems a lot of people have some pretty awesome...

It was almost a clean-sweep this morning for the synthesizer heavy "(Keep Feeling) Fascination") by the Human League. Everybody was in the mood for a little 80s fun!
It made it up to #8 on the charts in 1983, a couple of years after...

Here's a song that inspired high-schoolers to act like 12-year-olds back in the late 1970's. The lyric "when you're in love with a beautiful woman, it's hard," was just so darn hilarious!!
Dr. Hook had a lot of hits in the...

Remember when we were headed for the 90s..and grooving to the Escape Club?
This band from London scored a number 1 hit in 1988 with the song "Wild Wild West." It's probably the only song you remember from that band--but they weren't a...

With Father's Day coming up, we thought we'd choose one of the greatest dad songs of all time. But since that song wasn't on the iPod, we decided to go with "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" by Wayne Newton.
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Today was another busy day at Bonnaroo. We started the day off by seeing Shakey Graves. I missed his show in Madison earlier this year so he was a must see on my list. Loved him!
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